Possible to use a SmartArray e208I-P in a non-HP system?

[fskrotz]

I'm not looking for HP support per say.  I have a 8 slot high end ASUS MB with 8 PCIx16 slots and we can 3 run high end GPU's for some serious data crunching (plus a dumb video card for screen and a slot for the raid card which is where the P2081-P comes in so I can build some raid storage on it.  So I have an spare  208I-P card on our parts shelf and 6 20 Tb drives to store the imagery local that it needs to do the 3d rendering from LiDAR data.  Yea not your average setup.  I just want to get into the BIOS of the P208I controller and configure the disks in a raid 10 set using CentOS 9 stream.  So unlike when the card is sitting in a DL380 where I get prompted on the screen to configure the raid I get nothing and would like to just get help to get in the bios setup for that if possible.

CentOS has a full cnome GUI loaded so they can preview the end results so if I need a GUI we have that,, just not sure what to install to get it started.

[TVVJ]

Hello,

Hewlett Packard Enterprise tests the products it has designed and produced with the options that has been desiged for them. The options are , however, not tested on third party servers. Hence, it is not possible to say if they would work with certainity. However, like any PCIe card, it should be detected in the server's BIOS, and the firmware and drivers can be downloaded from hpe.com/support.

Regards,

[fskrotz]

Oh I understand they were not designed for random 3rd parties but I can tell you that in the earlier versions of the raid cards (Gen 8 and earlier) they all work just fine as I've done this many times before.  This one I'm not seeing the BIOS prompting and thus why I'm asking but they have re-engineered the whole BIOS interface in the last few years and until now I've not tried a newer card and was looking to see if anybody else has done it.

I decided to try this one because we have it but also it's been recommended by several people for building media servers around where large amounts of storage can be used.

[Vinky_99]

@fskrotz 

Good day!

As you've noted, the BIOS and system initialization processes can vary between different generations and models of these RAID cards.

Given the changes in the BIOS interface in newer versions, it's possible that the absence of the RAID configuration prompt may be due to the card not initializing correctly with your ASUS motherboard or the specific BIOS/UEFI settings.

Here are a few additional suggestions:

>> Ensure that the firmware on the HPE SmartArray card is up-to-date. You can check the HPE website for any available firmware updates. Additionally, make sure you have the latest Linux drivers for the RAID card installed.

>> Check the motherboard's BIOS/UEFI settings thoroughly, especially those related to PCIe devices and boot order. There might be an option to enable or configure additional PCIe devices during the boot process.

>> HPE usually provides diagnostic tools that can be used to check the status and configuration of their hardware. While these tools might be more relevant in an HPE environment, they could still provide insights into the status of the RAID card.

>> Although you've mentioned that you're not seeking HPE support, it might be worthwhile to check if there are any specific considerations or known issues with using the E208I-P in non-HP systems. There could be insights or updates available from HPE support or documentation.

Since you have experience with similar setups using earlier versions of HPE RAID cards, your troubleshooting skills and familiarity with the hardware will be valuable in resolving this issue. Keep experimenting with different settings and tools, and you may discover a configuration that works well with your ASUS motherboard and CentOS installation.